Illinois Rivers to Help Power Flow

Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois is hosting an open house in Ipava and Rushville on May 22, providing local residents an opportunity to learn how your community will be affected, and give feedback to Ameren.

The Illinois Rivers project will improve power reliability and provide a conduit for renewable energy. The 330-mile line will stretch across Illinois, providing access to Midwestern renewable energy.

Transmission is all about moving electricity. Think of transmission towers like a highway system. Sometimes highways get old, or congested, and new connections need to be built. This delays wind farm development, because there’s no way to move the energy from the producer to the consumer. The Illinois Rivers project will help alleviate this bottleneck.

Building towers and laying cable will require contractors, in addition to the amenities that crop up around new workers. Ameren estimates the project to produce nearly $1 Billion of construction jobs. They also predict the cost to each customer to be around 50 cents per month, but expects the system to save 2-3 times that. You can learn more from their website, at http://www.ilriverstransmission.com.

New transmission lines affect communities, so it’s important that your voice is part of the process. Public participation often improves these projects. This is your chance to directly interact with the transmission company.

The Center for Rural Affairs supports clean transmission, projects that carry renewable energy like the Illinois Rivers project. You can learn more, and see other transmission projects, on our website: www.cfra.org/clean-energy-transmission-map.